Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 10 Four Yards

Now I was never much good at maths or for that matter being able to make judgments about distance.

So I can’t say whether the distance between John Dalton Street and King Street is Four Yards.

To be fair the Laurent’s map  of 1793 suggests that it might have only run from John Dalton Street to South Kings Street and our little stretch might have not actually been part of the original.

Look closely at its alignment now and back 223 years ago and it doesn’t quite match up.

All of which just leaves someone to go and measure the distance or better still unearth some dusty document which gives a definitive answer.

So for now I will continue to use it as a alternative to a very busy Cross Street.

Location; Manchester



Picture; Four Yards, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

A history of Chorlton in just 20 objects number 17, the lockup workshop

Continuing the story of Chorlton in just a paragraph. They are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

You can find them all over Chorlton usually tucked away behind other buildings or hidden by tall walls. Some I guess were once stables or perhaps even cottages and now they serve as lock up workshops.  They are a reminder that in that crossover period when we were in transition from rural community to dormitory suburb there were still plenty of craftsmen about serving the needs of the township.  In some cases they inhabited what had once been farmyards and in others just patches of land not yet built on.  So opposite the Bowling Green Hotel where the remnants of the United Serviceman’s’ Club stands was one of the building yards of Scott the builder  and just a little closer to the green in what had been Greenwood’s farmyard was a smithy, lock up garages and where Mr Holmes carried out his carpentry business.  And much closer to now the Walker Brother’s ran their builder’s yard from what had once been the farm buildings of the Higginbotham family.  Now mostly the lock up workshops belongs to mechanics, but some are offices while others and morphed into keep fit venues. While this one has now been demolished and replace by a newbuild house.

Picture; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Looking at some 18th century cottages on Avery Hill Road in New Eltham

Now these properties I had no idea existed nor that there was anything this old along this part of New Eltham.

So there you are a little bit of the 18th century in New Eltham and a description of the buildings from Darrel Sprugeon

“Theobolds Cottages are on Avery Hill Road and are a terrace of old cottages, the only survivors of the hamlet of Pope Street.

Despite the date 1817 on the front, they date back at least to the 1760s.

The porches are modern.”*
And they are on Avery Hill Road  just opposite Sparrows Lane, which once led to Sparrows Farm, but that is for another time.

*Discover Eltham and its environs, Darrel Spurgeon, 2000

Picture; Theobolds Cottages, courtesy of Darrel Spurgeon

Lost and forgotten streets of Manchester .......... nu 8 the one with the umbrellas

It's that short cut through that takes you from King Street to South King Street and of course it is the one with the umbrella's half way along and some delightful stone motifs.

I can't remember when the umbrella's appeared but they are one of the fun things I liked to show visitors.

I have to confess I didn't know it had a name, but according to Goad's Fire Insurance maps of the late 19th and early 20th centuries it is listed as St Ann's Passage.

In time I will track its history but it was there by 1849 as a covered passageway and back in 1793 was an open lane connecting King Street to what was then Back King Street.

So who would have thought that this cut through had a history?

All of which just leaves me to ask if anyone remembers the umbrella's being installed.

I rather think it was the mid 1970s but I can't remember.

I am guessing some of the motifs were made at the same time.

And that is it other than to say the umbrellas have now gone, which l think diminishes it's charm.



Location; Manchester









Pictures; between King Street and South King Street, 2016, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

A history of Chorlton in just 20 objects number 16, when our water came from pumps and wells

Continuing the story of Chorlton in just a paragraph. They are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

Just over 40 years ago there was still a working water pump on Beech Road, and only a few years before that, old farmer Higginbotham finally got round to filling in his old well in the garden of his farmhouse on the green.  All of which goes to remind us that before the arrival of mains water in 1864 from Manchester, the township was reliant on pumps, wells, ponds and streams.  Now my picture was collected by Lois in a village in Sussex but I have every expectation that if you had walked through Chorlton something like 160 years ago there would have been plenty of similar ones.  We might mourn their passing but collecting the water from a pump was a chore and one that had to be done three or four times a day, and by the 1880s most supplies had either become polluted or dried up.  Nevertheless the public pumps were a meeting place and by all accounts a magic place for a six year old to play on hot summer’s days.

Picture; from the collection of Lois Elsden

Make a date with the Red House ........... home of William Morris ...

Now I am a great fan of William Morris.

For years we had his wallpaper up in our hall, I have reproductions of some of his work and have read News From Nowhere,but I never visited his house in Bexleyheath.

But this Sunday courtesy of Heritage Week I could pay the place a call.

Heritage Week is the one week in the year where plenty of historical buildings and gardens usually closed to the public are open for inspection.

And so it is with Red House,* which offers “free entry to William Morris' house, founder of the Arts and Crafts movement. The only house he commissioned, created and lived in, Red House is a building of extraordinary architectural and social significance which is set amongst a wonderful garden in the midst of suburbia.

Entry to the house will be on an unguided basis with a maximum of 50 in the house at one time to ensure everyone has an enjoyable visit.”**

Now I could go on and explore his work and influence, as well as his political; writings and much more but I won’t, instead recommend you visit the place which Ann has pointed out is "usually open Wednesday to Sunday 11 to 5"

So if you miss tomorrow there are also other opportunities.

I will await the stories and pictures.

Picture; The Red House, May 2014, Ethan Doyle White

*The Red House, Red House Lane, Bexleyheath, London DA6 8JF,

**Visiting the Red House, Sunday September 13 : 1100-1700, http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/directory/red-house#sthash.dFgv21b7.dpuf

A history of Chorlton in just 20 objects number 15 a barrage balloon

Continuing the story of Chorlton in just a paragraph. They are in no particular order, and have been selected purely at random.

It was on the Rec not far from where the children’s play area is now located.  Until the late 1980s it was still possible to see the concrete bed which helped secure the balloon.

Picture; from the collection of Allan Brown